And his eyes, those startling violet irises that have looked at me with such tenderness and passion now are glacial with an absolute fury. His pupils glow like two miniature stars ablaze with amaranthine light. His cheekbones are dusted with radiance.
“What happened to your eyes?” Fear skitters down my spine. My throat tightens. I swallow, but the muscles refuse to loosen. My breathing comes quick and shallow.
“You wanted me to look, Kaye. I’m looking, and do you know what I see?” His voice is hard, sharp and cutting like a knife. “Betrayal. Lies. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. That’s why he sent you, isn’t it? The perfect little spy. Have you been telling him everything about me?About my family?”
Panic laces through me, knitting my scattered nerves into one coherent thought. “This isn’t you, Zane. I don’t know what happened, or what you think you saw, but if you’ll just listen to me?—”
“All I’ve done is listen to you. Listen to your sob stories. Listen to your lies. Listen to you pretend to care for me andGeorge and her parents. Listen to you swear to keep them safeall while selling us out to that monster. To C.”
“You saw C in my memories? I swear to you I didn’t know. Please, you have to believe me.”
“Lies upon lies upon lies,” he spits. “I am so tired of listening to lies, Kaye. You shouldn’t have come here. I told you what would happen if you threatened my family.”
His grip on my hand increases. I wince against the pain that shoots up my wrist. That finds the vulnerable fissure of a break that never quite healed right, and cracks it again. Through the pain, I feel it—the intoxicating threads of his power creeping into me.
“Please,” I beg. “Just look, Zane. Before you do something you’ll regret. I’ll let you see anything you want. Please.”
I gasp as his power spears through me. My distressed brain mounts no defense, which I guess is probably a blessing of sorts. With the way he’s pushing, this would hurt a hell of a lot more if I had. It feels like a dull needle stitching directly into my mind. Sharp, and over-full, it tears through me.
Images flash through my mind, lingering only a second before Zane discards them to continue his search. He holds the pieces of my life in his hands—the first time I rode a bike. A librarian looking fondly on my spot in the children’s room where I am cozied up and reading alone. Always alone. High school graduation. My first kiss. Applause as I greeted a crowd gathered at City Hall. Apollo’s nose rubbing mine first thing in the morning.
A skyline and a rooftop. The hope for more.
I’m a monster too, Kaye. And I’m not afraid.
A white mask, hiding a pair of violet eyes.
He tosses them aside as if they are nothing. As if they aren’t more than I have ever shared with anyone else. As if they aren’t the core essence ofme.
“Where is it?Where is it?” he mutters, growing more and more frustrated with every memory he drops. “None of this matters!Forget these trivial thingsand SHOW ME C.”
“Zane, I—” I begin, haltingly, but I no longer remember what I wanted to say. There was something… The pain is intense now, blinding. All-consuming. And he tears through, faster and faster, though I no longer know what he’s seeing or where the memories go once he’s through with them.
I double over as a wave of nausea crashes over me. My head feels… strange. Cold and sick. A sweat forms at the base of my skull. I realize I’m about to pass out just as the brown and black spots begin to dance in the edges of my vision.
I can’t remember who I’m talking to. All I know is, “You’re hurting me.”
Maybe I don’t even speak the words.
“This is all bullshit, Kaye!Forget about all of it and show him to me.”
A shiver flickers across my skin as, at last, the spots overtake me. Dimly, I feel some kind of physical reaction. Maybe I get sick.
None of it matters.
It never did.
Let the blackness…
…consume me.
28
ZANE
It’s too quiet.
I check the thread of my power, and it’s still coursing inside her, but something’s wrong. There’s nothing. No trace of the minutia of her mind, no more thoughts or memories for me to peruse. The part of me that is in her mind sees the fragments of them there at my feet, but they’re different. They’ve lost the luster of life lived and earned. I pick one up, a memory I held in my grasp only moments before, and it’s blank. Gone.
